News

Good Samaritans rescue trapped driver from San Gabriel River

By Joe Segura Staff Writer

Posted:
11/13/2012 10:03:11 AM PST

Updated:
11/13/2012 08:38:12 PM PST

Long Beach Police, Fire and Lifeguard responded to a vehicle in the San Gabriel Riverbed around 8:30 Tuesday morning. A tow truck hauled the Ford F150 out of the water. The driver was conscious and refused medical transport. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)

LONG BEACH - Two good Samaritans rescued a 42-year-old man Tuesday morning after he became trapped in his pickup truck that slid into the San Gabriel River, according to a Fire Department spokesman.

The man, described only as a Calabasas resident, was not injured in the 8:15 a.m. incident on the 6700 block of Pacific Coast Highway, and he declined paramedics' help, said Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Will Nash.

The pickup driver had just arrived at his work's parking lot, but was apparently ill at the time, Nash said. The man leaned forward, resting his head on the steering wheel.

"The next thing he knew he was in the water," Nash said, adding the driver most likely failed to engage the brakes fully.

A fellow worker, identified as Ryan Gordon, on the second floor of a nearby building saw the incident and rushed to the driver's rescue.

Gordon had problems dislodging the door, but a local jogger - identified as Keith Dodson - rushed to the scene and smashed the passenger door's window with a rock.

At the time of the rescue, the victim was about waist-deep in water. The truck itself sunk about 8 feet below the surface of the water.

Long Beach Police, Fire and Lifeguard responded to a vehicle in the San Gabriel Riverbed around 8:30 Tuesday morning. A tow truck hauled the Ford F150 out of the water. The driver was conscious and refused medical transport. (Brittany Murray / Staff Photographer)